I know the wages in Argentina are low and I would like to live down there for as long as I can. I wonder what other jobs are available to gringos down in BA. Can you get jobs bartending, tour guiding, or anything else catering to English-speaking folk. I would be coming down with an extremely low-level of Spanish. Hopefully down the line I can do something using my spanish skill

Teaching is your best bet, it is that or call centre work which is far more stressful and not better paid though you get more hours and end up with more money. Basically, you lack of legal status means you won't have much in the way of options. There is no secret back door to make more money and nor is there a secret back door to becoming legal once you land there - apart from marrying an Argentinian.

It's very easy to acquire pupils for private lessons. I have absolutely no job experience and I have people lined up to learn English. I am living in San Juan, which is just north of Mendoza. I can think of no other job besides an English instructor that you could obtain without knowing sufficient Spanish. In fact, people here presume that you need to know Spanish to teach English. Thank God for that full immersion theory... On a brighter note, I know quite a few porteņos (people from BA) and they tell me that BA can be very expensive and also very cheap--it just depends on whether or not you know where to go. And cheap does not necessarily mean ghetto. People here are very hungry to learn English and the culture is very open. I believe that you will not have trouble finding pupils and friends that know the city.

Do you all know if there are opportunities to work as a waitress/ tour guide/ etc. if I do speak Spanish? I mean, I would still probably be on a tourist visa having to hop over to Monte every 3 months... but in Chile I know a lot of places will pay you under the table.